Five or six years ago, I got a call from a Marketing VP who was antsy in her job. “I need to think about broadening my horizons,” she said. “For starters, I need to start networking more.” “What kind of networking do you do now?” I asked her. “None,” she said. “I know the people I work with, and my friends outside of work, and that’s it.”

We put together a plan for the Marketing VP’s career exploration. Her first assignment was to go to a large networking event; we went together, and chatted with a dozen people there. “That was really fun,” said the VP as we left. “I guess I thought that when you network, you have to have a purpose in mind – either you need a job, or you’re trolling for business.” “Heck, no!” I exclaimed. “That’s not networking, that’s transacting business. Networking is just talking, and seeing whether glue forms.” “We built up a lot of glue tonight!” she said. It was true; we had.

A month later, the VP of Marketing got the news: her division was being eliminated. “I’m sure you knew it, intuitively,” I said. “You didn’t call me out of the blue.” The company gave her a month of stealth time to get organized, before they planned to announce the closure. The VP networked like a banshee during that time, scheduling breakfasts, coffees and lunches, with a few drinks-after-work and large group events tossed into the mix. Some of the networking turned into deeper conversations about business, pain, and solutions. On the day the division-closing announcement was made, she accepted a new job offer.

“It’s a whole ‘nother world, this networking thing,” she said. “It is,” I agreed. I’m pretty sure the Marketing VP will never fill out another online job application again. Networking is a million times more powerful than that wan pushing-on-a-rope process, and luckily it’s also a million times more fun.

Every working person can network, and should — networking grows your relationship-building muscles, keeps you close to the ground, lets you hear about opportunities, and generally informs your worldview for business and life in ways that staying in your cubicle with your head down do not. Whether you worry about job security or not, having a strong and diverse network of business friends is a huge asset to any working person (or student or job-seeker, for that matter). Here’s a quick checklist to let you see how your networking muscles grew in 2012 — or, if you’re new to the networking moshpit and haven’t tried any of this stuff yet, where to focus your networking energy in 2013:

HOMIES
Let’s start with your besties, leaving aside for now the people you work with every day. How well did you do at keeping up with your inner-circle friends in 2012? Did your day-to-day work make it impossible for you to see the girlfriends or get together with the guys (singly or in groups) or were you able to carve out room for that? It’s important. In 2013, please try to schedule time for friends and family at the same level of priority as the work on your desk. After all, the work will always be there. The people time is irreplaceable. You need it, and so do the people you love and vice versa.

NEW PEOPLE
Who did you meet in 2012, and intend to keep in touch with? Why not send a little holiday email greeting to those folks, while you’re thinking about it? Your network is like a rubber plant or a goldfish or a bearded dragon lizard – it’s a living thing, unless you let it languish and die. Please don’t do that! You don’t have to have business to transact with people in order to keep in touch with them. What about an email message that says “I was thinking about you and wondering what’s new with you. Have time for lunch or coffee before the holidays?”

RECONNECTED
It is wonderful that Facebook and LinkedIn make it so easy these days to reconnect with people from even our distant paths. Who did you reconnect with, in 2012? You want to keep up with those folks, too. Maybe someone has a problem you could help with, or someone could make an introduction for you or suggest a book or another resource that might change your life. Who will you reconnect with in 2013? Is there a name drifting in and out of your mind, someone you used to know and miss being around, these days? Call that person now. Why not? There’s no statute of limitations on networking!

INTERNAL
Most of us work in organizations with cool and sparky people we never actually get to meet, because we’ve got our heads down all day plowing through the piles of work in front of us. One place to spread your networking wings is right in your own workplace. The office or shop you work in is a great place to grow your network and your mojo (including at the company holiday party) and there are tons of others, from your spouse-or-partner’s holiday gathering to a neighborhood cookie exchange. There are amazing people all around you, and this time of year is a great season to meet some of them and grow your networking chops.

THEMES
Maybe you realized in 2012 that you’re fascinated by a particular aspect of business or philanthropy, or something else that sparked your interest this past year. Once you’ve found a keyhole like that, go right through it! Maybe you’ll focus your networking in 2013 on the arts in business, or changes in higher ed, or some other current that pulled you in during 2012.

Ask yourself now: what is that current, or what are the themes that draw you? Once you understand the flame you’re growing in your networking, you’ll be able to decide which events, groups, and people to focus your 2013 networking efforts around (keeping in mind that the universe has a wonderful way of putting us in situations we need to be in, anyway).

PERSONAL BRAND
How’s your personal branding supporting your networking adventures? Do you have a LinkedIn profile, and if so, are you happy with it? If not, put “Beef up my LinkedIn profile” on your 2013 networking To Do list. What about the way you present in person – are you happy with that? Lots of people stop at this time of year and shift their message or their professional presentation (which might include clothes, hair, glasses, makeup or your briefcase) to align their professional image with the brand they’re looking to convey.

DIRECTION
Job-seekers often have a career direction: good for them! Working people find it easy to lose their direction, because someone is right there telling them “Here is the next thing for you to learn, and here’s the next job for you to strive after.” Unfortunately the people who tell us what we need to learn and what job we should pursue are not also telling us “If you do the things I’m suggesting, you’ll become Director of Everything six to 12 months from now.” Our employers don’t drive our careers anymore. We drive them. Every working person needs a career direction, a spot on the horizon that we’re sailing toward and some ideas about how to get there. Staying glued into your network, expanding it all the time and tossing around ideas and stories with other people are the ways working folks get clearer about their direction and get the emotional fuel they need for the journey.

Download our quick and fun exercise, What Happened With My Network in 2012 to take stock of your own networking activity in 2012 and make a plan for your 2013 networking. Smart, helpful and charged-up people are all around you. You only have to go meet them!

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